Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Mr Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering adopting the simplified payment scheme approved by the European Council on agriculture on 19 June 2001 in order to reduce "red tape" for small farmers.

Ross Finnie: My department is carefully considering whether the Small Farmers Scheme will be implemented in Scotland. The detailed rules of the scheme – which determine the complexity of the arrangements required to operate any scheme – are currently being considered by the EU Commission in the Working Group on Simplification of Agricultural Legislation, and will be finalised this autumn. Any decision to adopt the new scheme will depend on whether the rules lead to a genuine simplification.

Education

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13134 by Nicol Stephen on 12 March 2001, what the provision is by Scottish Borders Council of (a) primary school e-mail addresses and (b) secondary school e-mail addresses, given as a percentage of staff and secondary school pupils who have internet access.

Nicol Stephen: Provision of e-mail addresses by Scottish Borders Council is shown in the tables:

  Teachers and pupils with e-mail addresses – as a percentage of teachers and pupils in all Scottish Borders Council Schools.

  

 

Primary Schools 
  

Secondary Schools 
  



Teachers 
  

19.8% 
  

73.6% 
  



Pupils 
  

12.0% 
  

63.1% 
  



  All Scottish Borders secondary schools and 40.8% of primary schools have internet access.

  Teachers and pupils with e-mail addresses - as a percentage of those in Scottish Borders Council primary and secondary schools with internet access.

  

 

Primary Schools 
  

Secondary Schools 
  



Teachers 
  

38.2% 
  

73.6% 
  



Pupils 
  

20.3% 
  

63.1% 
  



  Source: SEED School Census, September 2000.

Education

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13134 by Nicol Stephen on 12 March 2001, what the provision is by Scottish Borders Council of internet access in primary and secondary schools and what percentage of staff and secondary school pupils have internet access.

Nicol Stephen: Provision of internet access by Scottish Borders Council is shown in the tables:

  Percentage of schools with Internet access

  

 

Scottish Borders Council 
  



Primary schools 
  

40.8% 
  



Secondary schools 
  

100% 
  



  Percentage of secondary teachers and pupils based in schools with internet access

  

 

Scottish Borders Council 
  



Secondary teachers 
  

100% 
  



Secondary pupils 
  

100% 
  



  Source: SEED School Census, September 2000.

Enterprise

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many local economic forums have now been formed; how many times each has met; how many consultancy contracts have been let or are in the process of being tendered in relation to their work, and what the value is of each such contract.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the current status is of local economic forums in the Highlands and Islands area.

Ms Wendy Alexander: There are 22 local economic forums in Scotland. The detail is as follows:

  


Forums in the Scottish Enterprise area 
  

Formed 
  

Meetings to date 
  



Ayrshire 
  

v 
  

3 
  



Borders 
  

v 
  

1 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

v 
  

3 
  



Dunbartonshire 
  

v 
  

3 
  



Edinburgh & Lothians 
  

v 
  

3 
  



Fife 
  

v 
  

1 
  



Forth Valley 
  

v 
  

3 
  



Glasgow 
  

v 
  

3 
  



Grampian 
  

v 
  

2 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

v 
  

2 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

v 
  

4 
  



Tayside 
  

v 
  

3 
  



  


Forums in the Highlands and Islands area 
  

Formed 
  

Meetings to date 
  



Argyll & the Islands 
  

v 
  

3 
  



Caithness & Sutherland 
  

* 
  

* 
  



Inverness & Nairn 
  

v 
  

4 
  



Lochaber 
  

v 
  

3 
  



Moray Badenoch & Strathspey 
  

v 
  

2 
  



Orkney 
  

v 
  

2 
  



Ross & Cromarty 
  

v 
  

3 
  



Shetland 
  

v 
  

1 
  



Skye & Lochalsh 
  

v 
  

1 
  



Western Isles 
  

v 
  

1 
  



  *Scheduled for 30 July 2001.

  The use of consultants is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the forum partners. The Executive does not hold this information centrally.

Pigs

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-16055 by Ross Finnie on 14 June 2001, which diseases carried by pigs can be passed on to humans.

Ross Finnie: The following list of diseases of pigs can be transmitted to humans. However, this list may not be totally comprehensive.

  Acanthocephaliasis

  Actinomycosis

  Amebiasis

  Ancylostomiasis

  Anthrax

  Ascariasis

  Babesiosis

  Botulism

  Brucella suis

  Candidiasis

  Clonorchiasis

  Clostridiosis

  Coccidioidomycosis

  Colibacillosis

  Corynebacteriosis

  Crimean-Congo hemorrhahic fever

  Cryptosporidiosis

  Cysticerchus cellulosum

  Dermatophytosis

  Dioctophymosis

  Encephalomyocarditis

  Echinostomiasis

  Encephalomyocarditis

  Enteritis, hemorrhagic

  Erysipelas

  Fascioliasis

  Fasciolopsiasis

  Foot-and-mouth disease

  Gastrodiscoidiasis

  Gastroenteritis

  Gnathostomiasis

  Gongylonemiasis

  Heterophyiasis

  Hydatidosis

  Influenza

  Japanese B encephalitis

  Leptospirosis

  Linguatuliasis

  Listeriosis

  Louping-ill

  Melioidosis

  Murray Valley encephalitis (wild swine)

  Myriases

  Necrobacillosis

  Nipah virus

  Paragonimiasis

  Pasteurellosis

  Pneumocystis pneumonia

  Rabies

  Salmonellosis

  Sarcocystosis

  Scabies, zoonotic

  Schistosomiasis

  Sparganosis

  Sporotrichosis

  Staphylococcal food poisoning

  Streptococcus

  Swine vesicular disease

  Taeniasis and cysticercosis

  Toxacoriasis

  Toxoplasmosis

  Trichinosis

  Trichuriasis

  Trypanosomiasis, African

  Tuberculosis, zoonotic

  Tungiasis

  Vesicular stomatitis

  Wesselsborn disease

  Yersiniosis, enteroclitic

  Yersiniosis, pseudotuberculosis

  Zygomycosis.

Roads

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many planning applications were called in by it and the Scottish Office in each of the last five years within the Highland Council area and of these how many were called in on the recommendation of the Trunk Roads Authority.

Lewis Macdonald: The latest available information is given in the table.

  


Year 
  

Total No. Called-In 
  

On Roads Grounds 
  



1 July 1996 to 30 June 1997 
  

5 
  

2 
  



1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998 
  

6 
  

6 
  



1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999 
  

4 
  

3 
  



1 July 1999 to 30 June 2000 
  

6 
  

6 
  



1 July 2000 to 30 June 2001 
  

9 
  

8

Sexual Offences

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to implement the 1998 Convention of Scottish Local Authorities guidance regarding police investigations of complaints of sexual assault.

Mr Jim Wallace: The importance and sensitivity of this matter has long been recognised by the Scottish Executive and the police. Departmental guidance asks Chief Constables to do their utmost to ensure that victims of sexual assault are treated with tact and sympathy. This guidance covers matters such as medical examinations, the importance of using experienced female interviewing officers and developing in-force training, again with the purpose of providing an atmosphere of care and concern. Local procedures which have been put in place by Chief Constables will have regard to this guidance and other relevant guidance and reports, for example on domestic violence and vulnerable and intimidated witnesses. It would be for Chief Constables to decide to what extent guidance from COSLA should be reflected in their local procedures.

Statistics

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to publish its report on the progress made against the Statistics Plan 2000-01 .

Angus MacKay: I am pleased to announce that we have published the report of progress against the Statistics Plan 2000-01 . The Scottish Executive Stewardship Report sets out the progress made against the Statistics Plan 2000-01 , which was published in April 2000. This is the first year in which the Stewardship Report has been produced.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are employed to work on tourism in each local authority.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The information requested is not held centrally.

Tourism

David McLetchie (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the current position is with regard to the compensation claim made by Mr Rod Lynch following the termination of his contract as chief executive of the Scottish Tourist Board and how much public money has been paid out in respect of this claim to date.

Ms Wendy Alexander: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-15392 on 8 May 2001.

Water Supply

Mr Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Aluminium Sulphate Concentrations (nmg/l) in the potable water supply from the Tomich water treatment plant in Invergordon exceeded the limit allowed in potable water at any time during June 2001; if so, by how much, what the maximum concentration was of any discharge and how much entered the public water supply.

Ross Finnie: The maximum recorded level of aluminium in samples taken from the Tain regional water supply zone in June was 249 micrograms per litre. This is a breach of the standard set in Scottish drinking water regulations which is 200 micrograms per litre, but is highly unlikely to be of any significant public health concern. This single small excess over the standard followed a compressor failure on 7 June. The restoration of water supplies led to a short-term disturbance of accumulated material within the distribution system.